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McClatchy stock continues downward spiral

August 5, 2015

Tribune news standMcClatchy Co. stock prices continue to plummet amid sharp declines in advertising revenue.

The stock prices for the Sacramento-based McClatchy, which owns The San Luis Obispo Tribune and 28 other newspapers, fell from $4.71 a share on Aug. 5, 2014 to a current price of 90 cents. In the past year, total revenue for McClatchy fell 7.7 percent to $269.4 million and advertising sales fell 12.5 percent.

In 2014, McClatchy sold several assets which allowed it to reduce its huge debt, from the purchase of Knight-Ridder nine years ago, to approximately $1 billion.

In June, the Tribune laid off 28 employees and moved its printing operation to Fresno as part of a reorganization strategy designed to cut costs by $25 to $30 million.

“We are on track to achieve the $25 million to $30 million of cost savings in 2015 that we targeted at the onset from these specific initiatives,” CEO Pat Talamantes said in a recent report. “We expect the savings to continue to build over the course of the year and, in light of continued weakness in print advertising revenues, individual newspapers continue to adopt additional cost reduction plans to achieve their budgets.”


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No surprise here. The ding dong editor (not sure if she is still there) trimmed sections down and started combining them years ago during recession. It will only be temporary she claimed. Well the paper has got thinner and thinner, then they moved it to Fresno and combined it more with this new insight b.s. section and the Sunday paper? It is now as big (without ads and fluff) as the Monday use to be.


GEE and they wonder why their stock has gone down? Because they suck!!!


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The local Trib. has lost its way long ago, it is now considered a “Penny stock” they have been notified by the NYSE they will be de-listed unless they bring the MNI Stock above it current status, yesterday it was at .84 cents today it is at .90


There days are numbered, the really sad part is incompetent leadership or lack thereof it. I given them 8 major tips in the past year and by the time they got off there butt’s it was too late, three other outlets scooped them, CCN being one, Santa Maria Times and KSBY. Even New Times has beaten them on major stories, I stopped them this week, and stopped reading them even when the paper is free.


There news is late, overrated and worst of all filled with old wire stories done days earlier.


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Not unlike Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, the fishwrap always had the “way home”- Print a balance of views… Instead of articles that present the facts, they tailor articles to fit their Liberal stance. Fine, appeal to just 40% of the Public, of which only a small fraction still buy a paper. Most people, and business ventures try to make amends on their death beds. The Tribune has steadfastly doubled down on a failing business model, and as a last resort, packed up, and shipped jobs off to Fresno. That’ll do it! I bet they have already contacted Kelley and Al’s bankruptcy attorney. Bye! bye! Trib, is was nice knowing ya!


Six Editors later, they met their Creator, then the paper just folded and went away…


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Actually, this story reminds me of something…


Back in 2005 or 2006, the Tribune published a list of the top 100 SLO County citizen donors to the Republican Party. They didn’t publish a list of Democratic Party donors. I found this biased, but more importantly, a violation of people’s privacy.


What I found was the names of donors is considered “public record”, as I suppose it should be. But a search of journalistic ethics revealed that news and information should only be published if it satisfies the public’s need to know and serves the good of the community. A list of political donors didn’t satisfy either requirement, and the fact that it was done for only the Republican Party indicated reporting bias.


I contacted the editoe initially by email and later by telephone. We were going nowhere via email, and I was not going to give up.


At the time I recall the Trib was owned by Knight-Ridder. I contacted a large Knight-Ridder owned SF Bay Area paper and talked to their Editor (whose name I forget). I asked if the San Jose Mercury News would ever publish such a list. He was incredulous to my question and told me that to publish such a list violated the most basic ethics of journalism.


I talked to the editor once again, persisting with my protest. I had not yet mentioned that I had contacted the Mercury News Editor, instead referencing sources from various journalism universities.


But with a stroke of amazing good fortune (for me), she volunteered that the San Jose Mercury News published a list of yearly donors. Perfect!


I then explained that I was from the SF Bay Area and had lived there since 1958. As an adult had subscribed to the San Jose Mercury News from the late ’70s through 2000 and told her I had never seen such a list. She told me I must have missed the yearly list, because it the Merc always published one.


I then told her that I had just spoken to the Editor of the Merc (her counterpart) and that he said they NEVER published such a list because it would be an ethical violation.


You know what the editor did next? She hung up on me!!!!


I am glad I persisted. Since the Trib published that list in ’05 or ’06, I have never seen one published since.


I felt kind of …….victorious!


Scott


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^^^^ The list was of private citizen donors, not corporate donors.


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Things must really be bad for the Trib. Heck, even the CCN is a better paper with more investigative reporting!


Smile :-))


(relax, the Trib is a useless disgrace)


Scott


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But…but…what about my bird cage?


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Dancing on the grave?


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A few months ago, The Tribune started dumping a weekly advertisement in everyone’s driveway where I live, regardless of subscribership. When my dog doesn’t destroy the ads, occasionally I will open them up to take note of which businesses I won’t be patronizing. How dare they fund the distribution of trash, literal trash, to every house in town. Truly the last gasp for air before McClatchy’s business drowns.


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I stoped the litter months ago by calling and requesting a stop…it worked


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Not surprised. Pravda is a joke of a paper – of what paper is left – written poorly with distorted opinions in every story. Industry-wide is not doing well in the printed media world, but Tribune and McClatchy are worse.


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If I was working at the Tribune…I would be looking for another Job and planning my exit before the ship sinks.


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